Vocation system
Thevocation system is a recurring gameplay mechanic inDragon Quest series that determines character growth and abilities. The basic concept of the system is that instead of having pre-determined skills and stats, player characters are blank slates whose growth, abilities and role are determined by the player's choice ofcharacter class. Each class, or vocation, grants different attributes and characteristics throughout the game. The mechanic is governed by a set of rules and requirements for changing a given character's vocation, which can vary from game to game.
Only certain games within the series use a vocation system, with others having traits permanently fixed to characters. The system is always tied to theAlltrades Abbey present in the respective games, wherein characters can switch professions or combine past experiences to unlock advanced positions.
Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation[edit]
Vocations make their proper series debut in the third title, wherein the concept of a vocation totally defines a character's abilities. Unless various stat-boosting seeds orpersonality-altering books are read in the remakes, any character in a given vocation is identical to the another of the same profession.
InIII, the player begins with onlythe Hero and can enlist up to three additional party members fromPatty's Party Planning Place. These characters represent different vocations and it is up to the player to decide what party members they want for their team, and at any time the player can leave and replace party members there. Each of the jobs has its own strengths and weaknesses which allows the player to build a team based on their own preferences. The party members who are kept in the tavern will depart the team with whatever stats and equipment that they gained during their travels.
About one-third of the way through the game, the player will reachAlltrades Abbey which will allow the player to change a character's vocation. Changing vocations drops a character to level 1 with half of their previous stats (and all learned spells if any), allowing particularly patient players potential to develop a perfect character without resorting to seed searching. TheSage is a hidden vocation unlocked by bringing theWords of Wisdom to the abbot or through getting aGadabout to level 20. The Hero cannot change class at any time.
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation[edit]
InVI,Alltrades Abbey is unlocked by completing the first section of the game and defeatingMurdaw in theLower World. Because the game's cast is comprised of pre-established characters with distinct personalities and stat growth tables, vocations affect a character's capabilities throughpercentages rather than hard numbers. For example, ifAshlynn's wisdom is 100 when she has no vocation, having her undertake the path of a mage will grant a 20% boost to the stat and raise it to 120. Such changes are adjusted with natural increases awarded through leveling up, and will be removed if the vocation is switched.
Unlike inIII, this game starts with nine available classes. Each of the classes has eight ranks that can be reached by battling the required number of monsters, unlocking new abilities at each interval. Through mastering the initial jobs, advanced classes can be unlocked for that character which combine aspects of the prerequisites. For example, mastering the Warrior and theMartial Artist classes will allow the character to become aGladiator. Skills and spells mastered in one profession are permanently learned by a character.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past[edit]
The vocation implementation remains mostly unchanged from the previous game, though in the original PSX version there existed hybrid abilities that were unlocked through mastering certain positions sequentially. For example, a character could masterSword Dance by mastering the Warrior vocation right after theDancer. This aspect was removed in the 3DS remake, with the hidden abilities being incorporated into the normal repertoire.
Additionally, party members can also become monsters by using Monster Hearts. By putting a monster heart in their inventory and speaking to the abbot orHigh Priestess Jacqueline, they can become that monster. In the PSX version the character would not take on the appearance of the monster until mastering the vocation, where as they immediately become beastly in the remake. Furthermore, monster classes are the only way to permanently learn advanced skills and spells in the remake. In all, there are over fifty classes that a single character can become inVII.
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies[edit]
IX has a system which is similar to the one inIII, in which a vocation defines a character and where the player may create party members and add them to the party. This can be done at theQuester's Rest located inStornway, by speaking toPatty. Party members created do not play any significant part in the plot.
Vocations can be changed at theAlltrades Abbey, after the player has rescuedAbbot Jack. There is no minimum level limit for changing classes, dubbedre-vocating. One notable difference from past games is that spells are no longer carried over between class changes. A character must be a specific class to use that classes spells. Skills do carry over, and there are also methods for utilizing each weapon type with all classes.
Additional vocations must be unlocked by doing quests before the player can switch to them. Notably, theSage class is accessible only later in the game, but includes a specific ability, Jack's Knack, which allows the party members to change class at any time and place.
There are a total of 12 classes available inIX.
Related articles[edit]
Gallery[edit]
Manga explaining the ups and downs of vocations in the Victory Jump gudiebook toVI
Maribel modeling all human vocations available inVII
Vocations present inCaravan heart
